A memory has been remarkably miniaturized and had larger capacity in recent years. In addition, as the audio compression technologies have been improved, new compression methods, such as MP3 (MPEG1 Audio Layer 3), have been suggested, wherein the quality of original sound in LPCM (Linear Pulse Code Modulation) is not so deteriorated as to be unfit for comfortable listening even if it is compressed to one tenth of the original size. As these technologies have developed, it has been possible, for example, to record music data for one album on a stamp-sized semiconductor memory.
On the other hand, from the viewpoint of music distribution, in addition to the conventional distribution via package media, such as cassette tapes and CDs, there are indications that the form of directly downloading music data via Internet or the like (hereinafter referred to as “electronic music distribution”) has been widely used.
In the electronic music distribution, as mentioned above, the form of downloading music data via the Internet using a personal computer (PC) is popular. However, since a PC is a relatively large investment, distribution channels other than the PC-Internet have been considered, and among them, the form of downloading music data by using a mobile phone has attracted much attention. Although a mobile phone now has problems of slow communication speed and high communication costs, it is expected that it can be one of the leading distribution channels if these problems are overcome by future improvement of communication technology. This is because mobile phones are very widely used and they do not cost as much as other equipment required for electronic music distribution, such as PCs and others.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one example of a system of downloading/reproducing music data by using electronic music distribution. This music data downloading/reproducing system is comprised of a mobile phone 1101, a music reproduction player 1102 and a recording medium 1103. The mobile phone 1101, having a recording medium slot for inserting the after-mentioned recording medium 1103 in the body thereof, records the music data downloaded via Internet onto the recording medium 1103. The music reproduction player 1102, having a recording medium slot for inserting the recording medium 1103 therein, reads out and reproduces the music data recorded in the recording medium 1103. The recording medium 1103 is a portable memory, such as a semiconductor memory, and stores the music data recorded by the mobile phone 1101.
As shown in FIG. 1, if it is considered that the music data is downloaded by a mobile phone for listening to music, it may happen that after recording the downloaded music data onto the portable recording medium 1103, the recording medium 1103 is removed from the mobile phone 1101 and then inserted again into the music reproduction player 1102 for reproduction thereof. However, since carrying both a mobile phone and a music reproduction device on the way to the office and/or school means occupying a space, such as a bag, with them, a mobile phone with music reproduction function, that is an integrated composite device having functions of both a mobile phone and a music reproduction device (hereinafter referred to as a mobile phone with music reproduction function) is desired.
As this kind of mobile phone with music reproduction function is just based on a phone, processing which is not required for an ordinary music reproduction device is needed if a call arrives during reproducing music. For example, assuming that a call is received during listening to music by using a mobile phone with music reproduction function, it will be found that a mobile phone with music reproduction function has the following problems or challenges:
(1) Processing on Receiving a Call
An ordinary mobile phone informs a user of an incoming call by sound (a ring tone) outputted mainly from a speaker of the main body. However, a mobile phone with music reproduction function must notify a user of a ring tone without fault even while the user is listening to music through headphones. Particularly, if a melody tone is set to announce incoming calls, the music which the user is listening to must be clearly distinguished from the melody tone for incoming calls. In order to solve these problems, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application H09-321844 discloses a portable communication device for outputting a ring tone by switching from music reproduction sound outputted from headphones, or outputting both a music reproduction sound and a ring tone by overlapping them, so as to notify a user of a ring tone when he/she receives a call during reproducing music.
This device is, however, uncomfortable and troublesome for a user, because reproducing music is suddenly switched into a ring tone on an unexpected timing, or abruptly overlapped with a ring tone.
Also, it is desirable if the following processing is realized in addition to the above-mentioned processing on receiving a call.
(2) Processing During a Conversation
Although it is generally desirable to stop reproducing music data during a conversation, it is considered that music reproduction need not always be stopped if a communicating partner over a phone is a close person like a family member.
(3) Reproduction Resume
When a music reproduction player temporarily stops music reproduction, it generally executes an operation of resuming music reproduction at the position of stopping reproduction. Compared with this kind of player for music reproduction only, a user's request for a mobile phone with music reproduction function may be quite different in that music reproduction is interrupted by receiving a call regardless of the user's will, that is, it is forced to be interrupted.